Receiving the Truth!

Praise be to God!

Since the Church has received Christ Jesus as Lord, God wants the Church to continue to live In Christ and be rooted, built up and established in Him (Col. 2:6). For the Church to realise the truth of her identity in Christ, she must have a conviction of the truth and realise the truth in order to demonstrate the truth. Only if the Church carries the conviction of being in Christ, will she rise up and be seated in the place of authority and power that she has received in Christ (Eph. 1:18-23; Col. 2:6 - 3:4)! Kingdom conviction is the faith that realises, reveals and releases the Truth. The Lord then showed us how the believer can receive Kingdom convictions. This is what He showed us:

Hear!

• The believer needs to be exposed to the truth for it to influence him/her. Rom. 10:17

Receive!

• The believer needs to receive the truth by first trusting it, even if s/he does not understand it.
• To trust the truth is to submit to it.
• To receive the truth is to be vulnerable and allow God's truth to do whatever He desires in one's life.
• The believer must learn to receive the truth in His spirit before it is filtered by the natural mind.
• Spiritual revelation of the truth is received in the spirit and then in the heart and mind. 1 Cor. 2:14

Search!

• Once the truth is received, the believer needs to "search the scriptures" to ensure that there are two to three witnesses of the truth. Acts 17:11

Speak!

• God created by speaking. Gen. 1:3; John 1:1-3
• For Kingdom convictions to be formed or birthed in the believer, s/he must speak the truth over her life.
• The believer's utterance has the power to create. Pr. 18:21

Dwell!

• The believer must dwell on the truth and allow the truth to dwell in him/her. John 15:7; Ps. 119:11

Understand!

• The believer must receive spiritual understanding of the truth for it to become a conviction that bears fruit. Mt. 13:11,23
• The believer must depend on the Holy Spirit for spiritual understanding of the truth. John 16:12,13; 1 John 2:27

Apply!

• If the believer has received the truth and understands the truth it will become a conviction that will determine his/her way of life (culture).
• Convictions are only convictions when they affect the believer's lifestyle. Conviction without action is only an opinion!

We praise God for revealing His Truth to us so that Kingdom convictions are formed in our lives that determine our way of life to form Kingdom culture.

Quote of the week:

"The one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." Matthew 13:23

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A people of the Word

Glory to the King of kings!

This past week the Lord has been revealing more to us about His Word - both His prophetic Word as well as his written Word. Yesterday the Lord spoke to us about how we need to be a people not only IN the Word but also OF the word! This is what He showed us:

God has placed certain conditions for our prayers to be answered:

• We must remain in Him (John 15:7)
• Jesus' words must remain in us (John 15:7)
• We must produce fruit that will last (John 15:16)
• Our hearts must not condemn us (1 John 3:21)
• We must obey God and do what pleases Him (1 John 3:22)
• We must pray according to his will (1 John 5:14)

The Lord then showed us what it means for the Word to remain in us:

• To remain is to abide, dwell, live etc. (Col.3:16)
• The Word is not a formula that is to remain in the mind but rather is to be a revelation that is to remain in the heart (Mat.13:15)
• We need to understand the Word by the Spirit in the heart (1 Cor.2:9-14)
• The "knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven" is received through spiritual revelation (Mat.13:11, 1 Cor.2:12)

In order to receive spiritual revelation and understanding we must have "a good and noble heart" (Luke 8:15) which means we need to have:

1. A clean heart (Ps.66:18,19)
2. A believing heart that trusts the Word (Rom.4:20,21)
3. An objective heart that receives the Word as it is (John 17:8)
4. A teachable heart that allows God to change us (Mat.13:15)
5. A submissive heart that comes under the authority of the Word and obeys it (2 Tim.3:16)

• Obedience is the key to releasing spiritual revelation, understanding, knowledge and wisdom! (Mat.13:8,12,23)
• When we obey God's Word we are set apart so that we are of the Word and not of the world (John 17:14-18)
• Just as "the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" so are we to be a revelation of the Living Word in us (John 1:14)
• The believer is in the world but not of the world as he is in the Word and of the Word!

It is when the Word is understood in the heart by the Spirit and obeyed that the Word remains in the heart and the believer becomes a person of the Word.

We praise God for His revelation to us and showing us how to become a people powerful in prayer. Yesterday evening we had another wonderful opportunity to bless the poor and needy at our monthly homeless mission. The Lord glorified His name as He touched people's lives with His healing power as we prayed for them and shared God's Word with them. Hallelujah! God always proves His Word!

Quote of the week:

"If you remain in me and my word remains in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." John 15:7,8

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Agape

Glory to God!

The Lord is building His Church and raising a spiritual people who reveal His glory and love! Hallelujah!

The Lord is speaking to us about spiritual love (agape) and yesterday He showed us the following:

1. We are to be like God (Eph. 5:1; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 4:24; 2 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 1:15,16; Matthew 5:48)
2. We are dearly loved (Eph. 5:1; 1 John 3:1; John 17:22,23)
3. We are to live a life of love (Eph. 5:2)
4. We are to love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us (John 13; 1 John 3:16; Phil 2:6-11)
5. When we love like Christ loves us we honour the Father (Eph. 5:2; 2 Cor. 5:14,15; Rom. 6:6-14)

The Lord also challenged us not to just listen to His Word but also to do it (John 13:17; James 1:22-25) since His glory is only revealed through us when we speak and act according to His Spirit within us (John 18:6; Matthew 7:16)!

We give God all the glory for what He is doing in and through us and for blessing us with His awesome presence in our meetings. He is adding to our number and He is maturing us in walking in the Spirit. We also praise Him for more opportunities to serve the Body and the poor and needy in Frankfurt. Hallelujah!

Quote of the week:

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 6:1,2

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The Triumph of the Cross!

Glory to the Living One; the One who was dead but behold is alive for ever and ever! Rev. 1:18

We praise God for a truly amazing weekend as we celebrated Christ's victory and triumph on the cross on Friday and His glorious resurrection on Sunday! Both meetings were very powerful as the Lord spoke to us about the significance of the cross and how His resurrection is a confirmation of the truth of who He is and the words He has spoken. The Lord reminded us that the cross has set the believer free!

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!" Gal. 5:1

1. The believer is set free from the law. Rom. 6:14; 7:4
2. The believer is set free from the power of the flesh and sin. Rom. 6:6
3. The believer is set free from the power of the world. 1 John 5:4
4. The believer is set free from the power of satan. Luke 10:19
5. The believer is therefore set free from the bondage of satan in his,

• body - Acts 10:36; 1 Peter 2:24
• soul - 2 Cor, 4:4 (mind); 2 Tim. 1:7 (heart); Eph. 2:1-3 (will)
• spirit - Eph. 2:1

Not only that! Christ has set us free to reign through Him! We have been reconciled to reign!

Those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through Jesus Christ! Rom. 5:17

On Sunday the Lord spoke to us about having faith in Him and His words alone. He showed us that He always confirms His word and that the greatest proof of His faithfulness to His word is the resurrection. Looking at Luke 24, we saw how God expects us to have faith in His word and not to doubt!

1. The angels "rebuked" the women at the tomb for looking "for the living among the dead" when Jesus had clearly told them that He would rise from the dead. Luke 24:5-8
2. Jesus "rebuked" the disciples on the road to Emmaus for not believing God's words. Luke 24:25
3. Jesus reminded the disciples about what He had told them. Luke 24:44

The Lord also reminded us that we need to seek His revelation as we trust in His Word. Luke 24:27, 32, 45; 1 Cor. 2:12

We also experienced great freedom in worship on Sunday and were blessed with God's presence and a powerful sense of His pleasure as we worshipped Him! We praise God for the prophetic words and songs He is giving us that encourage us and enable us to press in even closer to Him. Thank you Lord!

Next week a few of us will be travelling to England to attend the Kingdom Faith leaders' conference and look forward to a dynamic time with our church family there.



Quote of the week:

"Since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." Romans 6:9,10

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